History can be approached along a variety of paths, for example, one speaks
of political history, social history, economic history, etc. This
web site takes a cultural path.

We select the Heibrunn
Timeline of New York Metropolitan Museum of Art as a tool for
exploration, as it enables users to explore the art and history of any region, say, China, in the context of the world.
For instance, while looking at China in the Tang dynasty one can navigate to
Europe to see what was happening there in that same period.

The Overview section is from the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Smithsonian.
It
"offers a glimpse into China's evolution by examining some aspects of its
history and material culture." (Note: Adobe's Flash Player
needed for Overview's presentation)

"... the story
of how China came to be the huge country we know today is one full
of drama. In each period Chinese have made use of what they
inherited, but also have come up with new ideas and practices as
they have struggled to find meaning or peace, to impose their will
or contend with opponents, to survive and thrive, to care for
their families and fulfill their duties, in the process creating a
society we call China."

"...... Once the modern revolution in Chinese thought got
under way in the 1890s, it became evident that no foreign model
could fit the Chinese situation, that many models would be used
but none would be adequate, and that the creative Chinese people
would have to work out their salvation in their own way.
Having had a unique past, they would have their own unique
future.

This conclusion, unsettling to many, has now coincided
with a further worldwide realization that the species Homo
sapiens sapiens (as it has reassuringly itself) is itself
endangered. The twentieth century has already seen more
man-made suffering, death, and assault on the environment than all
previous centuries combined. Perhaps the Chinese have
finally joined the great outside world just in time to participate
in its collapse. A few observers, less pessimistic, believe
that in the end only a survival capacity like that exhibited by
the Chinese for three millennia can save us.

By taking a fresh,
newly informed look at China's long history, at its
multichanneled reforms, rebellions, and revolutions and its
record of admirable successes and grievous failures in the
modern century, we may find the long-term trends and
contemporary conditions that will shape China's future and
affect our own."